About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Monday, November 7, 2016

Seattle Times Concedes “ST3 Won’t Reduce Congestion”

The Seattle Times seems to be of
two minds when it comes to Sound Transit’s light rail program.For example, the Oct 28th editorial “No
on ST3 and Permanent Tax Authority” recommended rejection because “Prop 1 would
give Sound Transit permanent tax authority”.The editorial opined “If voters reject ST3,
Sound Transit should return with a measure specifying which taxes would be
terminated and when”.

The Times Nov 1 edition headline, “Parking finds its place in Sound Transit vote” heralded the Sound Transit
decision to add 8560 park and ride stalls between 2024 and 2041.All the other approximately
20,000 park and ride stalls with access to either I-5 or I-90 are essentially already “in
use”.It’s “doubtful” spending
$698 million on 8560 stalls between 2024 and 2040 will provide
the access needed for many of the 700,000 daily riders Sound Transit is "anticipating" in 2040.

The Times Nov 3rd
edition headline, “Primed for major growth: Lynnwood and light rail” explained
how Lynnwood “will play a very large role in the success of expanded light
rail".It quotes city
officials who “count on four-fifths of train riders to take a bus, walk or bike
to the station”. Another quote
“Community Transit will quit driving express buses into Seattle and focus on
bus-to-train service in Snohomish County.

No one seems to recognize the way
to reduce congestion is to increase the number of transit riders, not move
those currently riding buses to trains.They only attempt to attract more riders by increasing
the “chronically full” Lynnwood T/C from 1,368 spaces to 1,900 spaces”.Not much considering the billions spent extending light rail
to the area.

Thus, it’s “doubtful” the Lynnwood
extension “will play a very large roll in the success of expanded light rail”. (At least in terms of reducing congestion.) Spending an additional $5.8 billion
extending light rail to Everett with no plans to add the thousands of parking
spaces needed to attract additional transit riders does nothing to change that
result.

After essentially promoting the light
rail extensions, the Times Nov 4th edition front-page article asks
“Would transit plan ease traffic?”The answer to the more specific question “Would ST3 reduce congestion?”
was “It would not”. The best they could
say was the plan “offers an escape from traffic misery for people who can reach
the stations on foot, on a feeder bus, or via park-and-ride”.

Even “leading proponents don’t
promise that traffic will improve”.More quotes “We’re building additional capacity to give people options
to get out of traffic” and “The yearning to escape gridlock might push demand
higher, and light rail capacity seems up to the task”.

First of all those wanting an
“escape from traffic misery” need access to parking either at stations or a
P&R facilities with bus connections to stations.Yet all the P&R’s are already essentially “in use” and Sound
Transit plans to add 8560 by 2040 are a tiny fraction of what’s needed.

Even if they did add the needed
parking, light rail routed through the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT)
will never have the capacity needed to give enough "people the option to get out
of traffic” to reduce congestion for those unable to do so.While “the yearning to escape gridlock
might push demand higher”, light rail routed through the DSTT will never be “up
to the task”

In conclusion, the Times recent assessment
ST3 will not reduce congestion “suggests” they recognize the futility of
spending $54 billion and 25 years attempting to do so.However, stopping ST3 is not
enough.

The problem with congestion in our
area is only 10% of commuters on the area's major roadways use transit.The only way to significantly increase
that number is to spend billions adding parking spaces throughout the area and
provide those who park there with sufficient transit capacity to take them
where they want to go.None of the
extensions beyond the UW stadium station, the Tukwila T/C, or across I-90
Bridge include sufficient added parking or have the capacity to accommodate more than a fraction of the commuters needed to do so.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.